Trainer Momma Spotlights Me! And Working Out With Ali Sweeney's The Mommy Diet

I was a fan of the Biggest Loser for several years -- I don't watch it as much now, but I still think it's an awesome show. Very inspirational & moving. Watching that show made me a huge Ali Sweeney fan. I watched her several seasons ago, as she was pregnant and then the next season as she was losing/ had lost her baby weight. I thought she looked amazing, and I felt as though she was an inspiration herself -- separate from the show.

She has released a new book called The Mommy Diet about her journey before, through, and after pregnancy. I'm not a mother, and I've never been pregnant or had a child. However, her workout routine and healthful eating was something I was very interested in. I just flipped through many sections (the pregnancy details, for instance), but there were also many great tips I wanted to use. Those I read in detail -- and actually have been using.

Last night before I left for the gym, I jotted down the detailed, 45-minute treadmill workout she shares in the book. It is a kind of HIIT workout, where you pair intervals of pushing yourself to the limit with periods of "active rest." It kicked my tail, but I felt accomplished when I completed it. I made one adjustment, but for the most part finished it as she laid it out in The Mommy Diet. Eventually, I'll  master it and move on to the 60-minute workout.

Before I picked up Sweeney's The Mommy Diet, however, I had been a longtime fan of a fitness and healthy-living blog called Trainer Momma. The site offers a wide range of helpful hints and inspiration: video workouts, print-and-use training sheets for the gym, an Eat With Me post each week (probably my favorite part of the blog), questions from readers, inspirational stories, and much more. When I had been working out for a couple of months, I emailed Trainer Momma for help. I had been running, and I (thought) I had been eating better, but I wasn't seeing the results I wanted to see.

My email back was inspiring, but frank. I probably wasn't making the changes necessary in my eating habits to lose weight and maintain it. But my running? Really good. Trainer Momma made me see that I still had some changes to make, and it pushed me to do so. It also offered me the help & support I needed to actually do it.

Since March 2010, I've lost 32 pounds (and counting). I eat much better -- both food-wise and portion-wise. I workout 3-4 times a week. And as a result, I'm the Before & After feature for this week. Click on over to Trainer Momma's blog to discover all the amazing offerings she has, and also to read my interview.